Prof. Freeman Dyson of Princeton University worked on  Srinivasa Ramanujan‘s partition of numbers theory while studying at Cambridge University. In this interview Prof. Dyson shares how he first discovered about Ramanujan in ET Bell’s book Men of Mathematics, and later on he went on to work on Ramanujan’s number theory at Cambridge University and developed a tool called Rank.  Ramanujan’s work was well-known in the mathematics circle he points out. Tune in to find out what was the contribution of Ramanujan to mathematics.

Ramanujan was a brilliant, self-taught Indian mathematician, who for a brief time worked with Prof. G.H. Hardy at Cambridge University. And, it so happens that Prof Dyson studied under Prof Hardy at Cambridge.Tragically, Ramanujan died young. He was only 32 years old when he died.

LISTEN: PROF. FREEMAN DYSON ON SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN

We recorded this interview with Prof Freeman  in 2006 at Columbia University in New York.

The film The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016) explores Ramanujan’s  life and journey to Cambridge to study under Prof. Hardy.

Photo: Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton University